SAP To Invest Over N81bn In Nigeria and 4 Other African Countries

oke efagene

August 20, 2014 12:57 PM

During a world press yesterday at the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Systems Applications and Products (SAP), announced plans to invest up to $500 million (over N81 billion) through 2020 to up-skill local African talent and drive sustainable innovation and growth in 5 African countries.

The selected African countries that will benefit from the program will include South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Angola and Morocco.

The objective was to establish the African region as one of the company’s top-five growth markets globally.

Much of the direct investment will be outside South Africa, where SAP already has a solid footprint.

According to SAP, the investment, is part of its vision of helping make Africa run better and improve the lives of Africans.

This was disclosed yesterday by Robert Enslin, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and president of Global Customer Operations, and Pfungwa Serima, Chief Executive Officer of SAP, Africa.

The new development is part of long-term commitment to regional expansion, sustainable growth and skills development of the next generation of IT leaders and professionals by training up to 10,000 consultants by 2020 in close collaboration with local governments and universities.

The development, according to SAP was to build on 22 years of experience, commitment and close collaboration with customers, partners, governments and universities throughout the African continent.

Giving details of the investment in the five African countries at the event that attracted capacity audience, Enslin told international Technology Journalists that, "The African market is unique in its growth potential and readiness to innovate.

"The SAP Executive Board strongly believes that now is the right time to take our engagement and commitment to expand in Africa to the next level.

SAP's additional investment in the continent reflects SAP's vision to help the world run better by delivering leading-edge innovation."

This follows on the heels of the announcement last year of SAP Africa’s skills development agreement with the World Bank.

With strong believe that African has potentials to leapfrog with innovative technology, the CEO of SAP, Africa explained that, "SAP Africa has more than 20 years of experience successfully operating on the continent."

Interestingly, with more than 1,300 customers across the continent, SAP is already enabling African businesses and governments of all sizes to grow, scale and globalize, as well as make the transition to a networked, technology-driven innovative economy.

As part of this commitment, SAP Africa is now taking responsibility for SAP operations across 51 African countries, including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and Mauritania, among others.

oke efagene